The Wish On Ryuu no Hi
by Bakura13
Summary: Sasuke makes the biggest mistake of his life: He wishes he didn't have to remember and be stronger. A cursed well has taken his memories, a part of himself and given him what he wanted... power.
1. Prologue

Prologue  
  
[Somehow... I had gotten this idea during a chemistry test I was writing...  
Shows how much of an attention span I have. Anyway... Hope you enjoy.  
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.]  
  
Sasuke held his left arm as his fingers twitched in small tremors, his crimson Sharingan eyes flaring with anger. His black hair fell over his forehead protector as he bowed his head and reluctantly dropping onto his knees, the crackling blue and white chakra disappearing around his shaking left hand. The crimson shade in his eyes seemed to recede with the Chidori attack, fading back to the impenetrable black as the Uchiha heir glared at the two craters in the rock face. His limit was two. He could only use the intensified chakra technique twice in one day while the infamous Copy Ninja Kakashi could use the ability four times in twenty-four hours. Sasuke slowly brought his trembling hand up to his face, looking, as his fingers seemed to twitch on their own. He couldn't stop the small spasms as he shakily tried to a clench a fist with little success. A gust of wind blew around the Uchiha boy as he bit back a curse, dust whipping around him. He let out a strangled cry of frustration and punched the rocky terrain beneath him with his other hand. No matter what the Uchiha boy did, he was never satisfied with the level of power that he had obtained. It had been two years.  
  
"Two years..." He said bitterly to himself as he looked at the ground. "I've tried to improve this technique for two years and it has done nothing..."  
  
At the ripe age of fourteen, the Uchiha boy had seemingly grown colder. The Third Hokage was killed, his brother Uchiha Itachi was still waiting for him and Sasuke felt... almost powerless. He was sick of it. Sick of being called weak, sick of being centered out for being one of the last living members of the feared clan of Uchiha. He wanted-no... Needed to avenge the sickening slaughter of his family. His brother... HIS aniki betrayed him. The one he looked up to, the one that he wanted to be like for so many childhood years... and he couldn't even do anything to save his family. Again, the enraged teenager punched the ground, the tremors in his other hand starting to dissipate slightly.  
  
He pulled himself up from the ground, resuming his hold on his other arm as he walked away from the mountainous training field, heading to the more concealed forest training zones. He scowled, ignoring the fading brightness of the sky as he continued to walk through the trees. Most of the Leaf Ninjas had probably left for dinner but Sasuke didn't feel like going back for a while. He wanted to be alone, away from the seemingly happy villagers, away from his team and away from everything. He found an old, tall tree and sat himself down, resting his back against the trunk of the tree as he glowered at the orange, and still darkening, sky. He sighed exasperatedly, getting irritated at the cool breeze that blew by, causing leaves to be strewn across the sky and be gently pulled by the air current.  
  
Sasuke continued to sit there for what seemed for hours as the sun had sunk behind the horizon, bringing the stretching darkness of night across the sky. Even though the stars were shining more brightly than usual, the full moon that bathed the forest in an eerie light seemed ominous.  
  
"Itachi..." Sasuke said under his breath, narrowing his eyes slightly at the moon as his mind played the image of his brother's face.  
  
He had grown to hate the sound of the name as each year passed by, causing his hate and his intent to kill his older brother to grow more rapidly. A chilling shadow crept across the forest training area as a cloud gently drifted over the face of the moon. Sasuke could only scowl in hatred, lowering his eyes back to the grass in front of him. A few moments passed as the cloud drifted away, allowing the mysterious light of the moon to slowly stretch across the ground again and revealing something to Sasuke. The Uchiha teenager sat up slightly, looking at the clearing that was hidden by the shadows of the trees. A strong beam of moonlight seemed to make the clearing more noticeable as Sasuke slowly stood up, his eyes on the center of the field.  
  
The moonlight revealed an ancient well built out of stone with blooming vines crawling up the sides. Sasuke cautiously walked towards the well, watching it intently as he neared it to see what it really looked like. Old cracked stone steps led up to the mouth of rather tall well with wooden supports above the structure that had hanging stripes of paper with strange letterings inked in black. Sasuke tensed unintentionally as he felt a chill run down his spine when he walked into the brightened area. He continued to take careful steps towards the well, somehow feeling drawn to it, as his breath seemed to catch in his throat from time to time. As soon as he placed his foot on the first step, the intensity of the moonlight was reduced to its normal shine. Sasuke, still curious on why he had not noticed the well before, walked up the remaining steps and kneeled down cautiously, looking at the still water.  
  
He noticed that the water seemed to go down forever. Sasuke remembered hearing about very rare and mystical wells that could have granted wishes. He was told that as a child... his aniki told him once but Sasuke didn't really believe it now... entirely.  
  
~  
  
"Aniki!" A five-year-old Sasuke ran over to his brother, holding an old book in his arms.  
  
The ten-year-old Uchiha Itachi turned slightly from lying on his bed, staying silent as he glanced back at his younger brother out of the corner of his eye. He watched Sasuke dump the book down on the bed and start turning the pages very carefully with both hands. Itachi moved his gaze back to the window, watching the full moon with a seemingly intense glare.  
  
"Aniki!" Sasuke said again, causing Itachi to slowly sit up. "What does..." The young boy paused, trying to read the words. "A... w-wi... sh... wish..."  
  
Itachi lowered his gaze to the page, seeing the small text that his younger brother was trying to read. He sighed slowly and spoke in a steady, almost non-interested tone as he corrected Sasuke. "Wishing..."  
  
"Arigato! Wishing!" Sasuke pointed at the next word and continued. "What is a... w-wishing w-... well? A wishing well? What does it do?"  
  
Itachi looked at the younger Uchiha's face with an unreadable look on his facial features. He often got questioned about everything from Sasuke and the younger boy seemed interested in every answer that the older one gave him.  
  
"A wishing well..." Itachi started to explain in a steady tone once again. "It's exactly what it sounds like..." He turned the book so he could read the pages in the moonlight, noticing that Sasuke was kneeling beside his bed, his elbows propped up on the covers as he rested his head on his hands; completely interested. "This one in particular... This is a picture of the well called 'Ryuu no Hi'. As the tales of a lot of wishing wells say, they have the power to grant a desire to anyone who wishes upon them."  
  
"I want to make a wish!" Sasuke said excitedly.  
  
Itachi arched an eyebrow slightly, his face remaining solemn towards his younger brother.  
  
"Want to know what it is, Aniki?" Sasuke asked, looking at his brother expectantly. "I wish that we could all stay together and happy forever! With Okasan and Otosan and me and you, Aniki!"  
  
Itachi was slightly taken aback as his face looked, even just a little, shocked as Sasuke smiled at him. He reached a hand out and rested it on Sasuke's head, watching him seriously as the other laughed slightly, putting his hands on his head as well.  
  
"What do you wish for, Aniki?" Sasuke tugged at his arm slightly.  
  
Itachi's eyes widened slightly as he quickly thought of a way to avoid answering his younger brother's question. He had never thought of having a wish. Ever. He removed his hand from atop Sasuke's head and pressed a finger on the other's forehead. "It's past your bedtime and you know it..."  
  
"Aww! But Aniki!" Sasuke protested, pouting slightly. "I want to stay up with you!"  
  
"Get to bed..." Itachi answered, putting his arm back to his side. "If you do what I tell you, maybe I'll explain the clouds to you... You've been asking that for a week..."  
  
Sasuke's eyes brightened slightly and nodded as he grabbed the heavy book. "Hai!"  
  
~  
  
Sasuke scowled as he looked away from his reflection in the water. The memory was a happy one but it only bothered him more.  
  
"Wishing... Che..." Sasuke muttered. "If this was even possible... I wish that I didn't have to remember all those horrible times... I'm sick of it... Or maybe I could wish for more power... I can't let my clan's death be in vain... Itachi... has to die..."  
  
Sasuke moved his gaze back to the water as his reflection seemed to shimmer slightly before disappearing. Sasuke opened his mouth slightly to even utter a sound of confusion but he could only flick his gaze around the water's surface, finding no reflection of anything. He hesitantly reached forward with one hand and placed his fingertips lightly on the faceless surface. Before Sasuke could react, the water seemed to swallow his hand, yanking the teenaged boy off of his knees and into the depths of the well.  
  
[I'm going to be torturous and let you all suffer with a cliffhanger! I have too much of an overactive imagination... Maybe that's a good thing, I don't know. Anyway... Time to type away at the first chapter... If I could spell perfectly, the world would be a perfect place.] 


	2. Chapter I

Chapter I  
  
[Aww, don't worry. I tried typing this as quickly as I could.  
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.]  
  
~  
  
Kakashi reentered the hospital with Naruto and Sakura following him, looking worried. The silver-haired Jounin had found Sasuke unconscious in the river but that wasn't the only thing that was worrying him to an extreme extent. Sasuke had black markings on his eyes and down his cheeks, also a dragon tattoo that seemed to circle around his neck and end as his collarbone. Even though Kakashi was somewhat lazy at times, as others had said, he knew that Sasuke would never think of putting such tattoos on himself. His exposed eye narrowed slightly as he looked around for the nurse that he had spoken to earlier that day.  
  
"Kakashi-sensei..." Sakura said quietly, looking up at him. "Is Sasuke-kun okay...?"  
  
Kakashi remained silent as he spotted the nurse and walked up to her, signaling Naruto and Sakura to stay where they were.  
  
"How is he doing..." Kakashi asked in a quiet tone.  
  
The nurse held her clipboard close to her chest as she looked at the Jounin, not knowing how to explain the news. "Sasuke-kun woke up not too long ago but he is having a lot of difficulty staying awake. We think he might have hit his head a bit too hard and gotten a concussion so we're watching him as carefully as we can. You may go see him if you need to but don't let him fall asleep until the doctors have made a proper diagnostic."  
  
"Hai..." Kakashi nodded and followed the nurse to the room Sasuke was stationed in, motioning for Naruto and Sakura to follow.  
  
The two other teammates of team seven followed their sensei quietly as they approached one of the hospital rooms, taking a peek inside as Kakashi went in calmly. Sasuke was sitting up in the hospital bed, one of his knees bent and his arm was resting on his kneecap as he partly covered his face with one hand; on the verge of falling asleep again.  
  
"Sasuke." Kakashi stated firmly as his voice seemed to snap Sasuke awake again.  
  
"Eh..." Sasuke moved his tired gaze to the Jounin, watching him unfocusedly.  
  
Sakura looked at the bandages around the teenager's forehead and she bit her lip nervously as she noticed the markings. "Sasuke-kun..."  
  
"How are you feeling, Sasuke?" Kakashi asked, still monitoring the boy cautiously.  
  
Sakura got more worried as she watched the teenaged boy stay silent and looking confused. 'He's not acting like himself...'  
  
Naruto's face had a vulpine look to it as he furrowed his eyebrows. "Oi, Sasuke! Why aren't you answering?"  
  
Sasuke looked over at Naruto, rubbing his bandaged head a bit. "I... Who... Who are you..."  
  
Kakashi's gaze narrowed slightly. 'Maybe he has amnesia...'  
  
The pink-haired teenager and the blonde stared in disbelief at Sasuke.  
  
"S-Sasuke-kun...?" Sakura said quietly, taking a few steps forward into the room.  
  
Sasuke watched the jade-eyed girl silently, drawing a total blank on who she was. After a silent moment, he could see the tears gather at the edges of her eyes and a tight fist held closely to her face.  
  
"Sasuke-kun..." Sakura held back a sob. "Please tell us you know who we are..."  
  
Sasuke closed his eyes for a moment, lightly rubbing his temple as he tried to think of a name from any of the three that stood in his room. He shook his head slowly and snapped his eyes open when he felt Naruto grabbing him roughly by the shoulders.  
  
"Stop playing stupid, Sasuke-bastard!" Naruto yelled, shaking the other slightly.  
  
"Naruto." Kakashi warned, pulling the angry blonde back. "Don't do that."  
  
"He's just pretending he doesn't remember!" Naruto pointed accusingly but his expression was obvious, a knowing look that the other might have forgotten everything.  
  
"Nani... Where..." Sasuke tried to get his thoughts straight as the other three watched him. "Where is this..."  
  
Kakashi crossed his arms over his chest and watched Sasuke. "You were found outside, knocked out in the river and almost drowned, Sasuke. The doctors think you have a concussion and you shouldn't go anywhere until they give you permission."  
  
Sasuke blinked and glanced out the window beside him, trying to think back. His mind had a few vague images... Darkness was mostly present but he couldn't put a finger on what the images represented. To the others, he looked confused.  
  
"... I... was found...?"  
  
~  
  
Kakashi looked from his standing spot at the window and glanced back at Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage. "That was a week ago... We had to show him where his apartment was and even after this time, he doesn't have a clue of just about anything. He doesn't even recognize anyone, where this place is and he's already gotten lost at least once."  
  
Tsunade crossed her arms and looked at the desk in front of her in thought. "With that said, he is not allowed to leave the village. Perhaps he just needs more time to remember what happened."  
  
"There is another thing..." Kakashi sighed slowly. "The tattoos on his face and neck are unknown to me. I don't know how or where he could have gotten them but he didn't have them before he left for his training."  
  
"... Could it be Orochimaru's cursed seal again?" Tsunade furrowed her eyebrows slightly.  
  
"Iie... It's something else..." Kakashi shook his head and started leaving. "If anything else comes up, you'll be the first to know... Hokage-sama..."  
  
Elsewhere in the village, Sasuke sat on a roof as he looked up at the sky quietly. He couldn't really do much else because he didn't know where he was. He partially knew who he was... Uchiha Sasuke and nothing more... but everyone else was just a new face. He didn't know how long he had been sitting there but he noticed that there were a few other teenagers spying on him. The ones that he saw in the hospital told him their names... but he kept forgetting them.  
  
"Sasuke-kun...?" A quiet voice asked from the edge of the roof.  
  
Sasuke looked back down and saw someone climb quietly onto the roof with him. "You're... you're... the one with pink hair..."  
  
"Sakura..." The jade-eyed girl answered a bit sadly as she crawled up beside Sasuke and sat down. "Are you feeling any better?"  
  
Sasuke looked back up at the sky, looking very distant and lost. "I... don't know..."  
  
Sakura watched Sasuke's lost expression and lowered her eyes to her feet, tears threatening to spill down her face. 'Sasuke-kun...'  
  
The two sat in silence, one on the verge of crying while the other continued to watch the sky with a dazed expression; not understanding what he saw.  
  
'Why is it so far away...' Sasuke thought to himself, continuing to look up at the clouds.  
  
Sakura was about to say something to the other but then stopped herself as their sensei appeared in a gust of smoke behind them. Sakura looked up at Kakashi and her look was the only answer he needed. The Jounin sighed and glanced at Sasuke, seeing the teenaged boy was more interested in the sky than his sudden appearance.  
  
"Sasuke." The said person looked up at his sensei. "There's something that we have to show you."  
  
Sasuke sat quietly for a moment before getting up onto his feet, following Kakashi and Sakura. The village was still foreign to him and the ones he saw in the hospital didn't give him such weird looks as the other teenagers that were watching him closely. What seemed to make him edgy the most was the fact that Sakura looked the most devastated by something and Sasuke didn't know what. Naruto was just angry but his eyes showed that he couldn't believe what had happened. Sasuke glanced around slightly, noticing that they were leaving the downtown area and stopped a few moments later. He looked at the graveyard in front of him while Sakura and Kakashi stayed quiet, watching the teenaged boy.  
  
"Why... am I here..." Sasuke asked, moving his gaze across the cemetery.  
  
"There's something you must see, Sasuke... It's very important." Kakashi explained before he started walking up a path, leading deeper into the burial grounds.  
  
Sasuke followed Kakashi with Sakura just walking a few feet behind him. Sakura looked at her feet as they walked up to the gravesite of the slaughtered Uchiha family, staying quiet. When Kakashi moved off to the side, Sasuke walked forward a few steps, his gaze sweeping across the names that were engraved in the memorial.  
  
"Uchiha..." He read the last name slowly and sat down, looking through the names again.  
  
He continued to sit there and look at the engraved forenames, still not able to figure out what significance that had to him.  
  
'This is worse than I thought...' Kakashi thought as he glanced off to the side. 'Who could have done this to him... I showed him this place not even a few days ago...'  
  
Sasuke pulled one knee up to his chest and rested his chin on his kneecap, once again scanning over the names. 'These people... are they related to me...?'  
  
Sakura watched the Uchiha teenager as tears started sliding down her face silently. This visit to the cemetery was the only proof that she needed that the Sasuke that was well known in team seven as cool and composed, was gone. He was reduced to a lost teenaged boy that knew next to nothing but his own name. Kakashi had informed Sakura about the death of Sasuke's family and was told not to talk about the incident to anyone. Sakura felt much worse since Sasuke couldn't even remember his own relatives and turned away, not able to take much more before she started walking off.  
  
She kept her gaze to the ground as more tears fell freely from her eyes. 'Sasuke-kun... What happened to you... You've changed so much... Even I don't even know who you are anymore...'  
  
"Sakura!" Someone called out to her as she looked up.  
  
Sakura brushed her tears away with the back of her hand and continued walking up to a small group of teenagers. The group consisted of the blonde-haired Ino, the bored-looking Shikamaru and, of course, Naruto.  
  
"Naruto told us that something's wrong with Sasuke-kun!" Ino said. "What did you do, forehead girl?!"  
  
"Why am I suddenly involved in this..." Shikamaru muttered.  
  
Sakura shook her head slowly, unable to stop another wave of tears. "Sasuke-kun... He... He..."  
  
Naruto looked at Sakura expectantly, hoping that the other had recovered then the teenaged girl finally answered. "He's gone..."  
  
"Nani? Gone? What do you mean 'gone'?" Ino's face had a look of horror.  
  
Shikamaru moved his gaze to Sakura, his attention caught from what they were talking about.  
  
"He..." Sakura covered her face with her hands. "He doesn't remember anything! Sasuke-kun could be gone forever!"  
  
Shikamaru's eyebrows raised slightly as he looked between the two girls and Naruto. He didn't believe it himself until he saw Naruto clenching a fist tightly before running off. He decided to leap after Naruto, after thinking how troublesome the situation sounded, following the angry blonde- haired boy all the way towards the graveyard. He walked after Naruto as the other ran up the path, fists clenched tightly as he ran.  
  
"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, sliding to a stop behind the Uchiha boy. "Stop putting this damned act on! Either you're faking or you're not the real Sasuke!"  
  
Sasuke turned and looked at Naruto, surprising the other boy completely to slide back a few feet. The Uchiha heir's eyes weren't the usual stone- cold, impenetrable blackness... Shikamaru noticed that as well as he hid behind a tombstone. Sasuke's eyes held an unbelievable confused and lost look to them, much more than they had been when he was in the hospital several days ago. His gaze also had a sad and distant look to them as he looked back at the memorial.  
  
"I don't know... who they are..." Sasuke said quietly, hugging his knee again.  
  
"You can come out of hiding." Kakashi said as he glanced at Shikamaru's hiding spot.  
  
Shikamaru stood up and looked in disbelief at Sasuke, glancing at the markings on his face and neck. "You're not serious..."  
  
"Stop lying, Sasuke!" Naruto yelled again, swinging a punch at him.  
  
"Naruto, don't be stupid..." Kakashi grabbed the other's arm.  
  
"But-"  
  
Kakashi shook his head and released his arm as Naruto put his arm back to his side. Naruto looked angrily at Sasuke but kept quiet, not letting himself completely believe that the other wasn't lying.  
  
"Do you want to head back?" Kakashi asked.  
  
Sasuke sat silently, not answering as he felt a heart-wrenching feeling sweep over him. There was something about the names, the memorial that caused the depressing feeling. He clenched a loose fist, his hand shaking slightly as he tried to remember... tried to remember something... anything... Nothing. Something felt unfair but it was too vague for Sasuke to even know.  
  
"Sasuke." The said person got up when Kakashi called for him again.  
  
He turned halfway, still looking at the grave, drawing a complete blank before following the silver-haired Jounin and the other two teenaged boys back towards the village. Sasuke watched the sky as they walked back, not feeling the look of doubt that Shikamaru was giving him. There was something about the memorial... the clouds...  
  
~  
  
"Ani..." Ani-what?  
  
A shadow stood in an open and unclear field as a smaller shadow ran towards it.  
  
"What are those?" The smaller shadow pointed up.  
  
~  
  
"What... are they..." Sasuke said quietly, feeling something slipping away from him; the dark markings glowing a slight reddish hue before fading back.  
  
Shikamaru folded his arms behind his head and continued to watch the Uchiha teenager out of the corner of his eye. 'This is ridiculous... He looks completely out of it... This can't be a joke, that stuck up guy doesn't seem to have a sense of humor... This is too troublesome...'  
  
The quiet group made their way back towards where Ino and Sakura were waiting but Sasuke had stopped quite a ways back, looking at the sky. A gust of wind blew by, picking up dust on the dirt trail and blowing Sasuke's bangs out of his eyes.  
  
"Explain... it to me..." He spoke almost inaudibly.  
  
[Yes, this story is gonna be a little odd... but I think it'll be interesting if I can keep my mind on track. O_o; While writing this, I listened to some .hack//sign songs to make the writing more... I guess interesting. .; Long live the songs 'A Stray Child' and 'Key of The Twilight' from the hack sign series!] 


	3. Chapter II

Chapter II  
  
[Whee... Thanks for the reviews Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.]  
  
Elsewhere in a not too faraway village, two members of the Akatsuki were sitting in a shady-looking restaurant. They were mostly listening in for information but had decided to get some sort of food to blend in more. Cold sharingan eyes were cast downward at the counter, silently watching the small glass that was held in a pale hand. The Uchiha Prodigy calmly took a sip of his drink, taking no notice of the people around him. His gaze remained unchanged when he started to hear the talk of some men from a table behind him.  
  
"Did you hear about the incident back in Konoha?" One ninja asked the others.  
  
Itachi calmly closed his eyes, not really interested in the conversation but couldn't help overhearing what they were saying. Kisame on the other hand, looked back at the male ninjas out of the corner of his eye, keeping silent as well.  
  
"Iie..." Another ninja shook his head.  
  
"Some genin went missing for a few days and they found him." The first one explained, taking a drink.  
  
"So?" The third one asked, clearly not interested. "What's the big deal?"  
  
"The deal is that he was found and he had no idea of where he was or anything! He didn't even know his teammates! I don't think the kid had any family or anything but all he knew was his name. Even the Hokage doesn't even know what to do!" The first man explained. "No one knows what happened and they can't find any reason for it!"  
  
"So who's the kid?"  
  
Continuing to listen, Itachi brought the glass to his lips again before he heard-  
  
"Uchiha Sasuke. I wouldn't believe it myself, if a few people hadn't told me the same thing!"  
  
The elder Uchiha opened his eyes into a dangerous narrowed gaze as he held the glass where it was, his grip tightening only slightly and unnoticeably. He continued to listen to the conversation, his shoulder muscles becoming more taut.  
  
"No shit, ne?" The second man asked. "Isn't he one of the best of that village?  
  
"One of the many. A lot of weird shit happens these days..."  
  
Kisame moved his gaze over to his partner, noticing how tense he was before the other got up and started to leave. He followed the other, leaving the group of ninjas to talk amongst themselves again.  
  
"We're nearby... It wouldn't take too much traveling, Itachi-san... We would make it by nightfall..." Kisame told Itachi, knowing that the other had acknowledged that already.  
  
"We're going to pay a visit to Konoha...." Itachi said solemnly as he continued to walk down the street quietly.  
  
Back in the mentioned village, Sasuke stood around with the more familiar group of ninjas. He had recently become much more aware and a little edgy with some of the other villagers talking about him. Sakura and Kakashi stayed off to the side as the training began in the evening.  
  
"Come on, Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, pointing at the Uchiha heir. "Let's start the training already! Make your move!"  
  
Yet Sasuke continued to stand there, watching the hyperactive teenager and being watched by the Jounin and the genin girl. Naruto started to get frustrated and he made the first move by running straight at the other, pulling a fist back to punch the other. Yelling something, he swung his fist over and his knuckles made brutal contact with Sasuke's face, nearly throwing the other back. Naruto's eyes widened in utter shock and his fist rested on his teammate's cheek, seeing the other was stunned from the sudden hit.  
  
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura started to fret, knowing that the other should have at least dodged that strike.  
  
It looked like Sasuke was going to fall back onto the ground but Naruto was furious. He simply could not believe that the other didn't even make an attempt to dodge the strike and he swung another punch at the other, driving him back. Blow after blow, Sasuke did not retaliate, as Naruto got more frustrated. Finally, one last punch was delivered and it sent the Uchiha heir back into the trunk of an old tree, the back of his head colliding first. This time Sakura screamed, causing Naruto to stop and watch the other as his breathing started to calm down.  
  
"What's the matter with you!?" Naruto yelled at him.  
  
Sakura couldn't stand it any longer as she ran over, sliding down onto her knees beside Sasuke and hugged him close to her. Something had felt off and Sasuke knew it as he slowly brought a hand to the edge of his mouth, feeling the warm crimson liquid of blood dripping from it. He touched it and drew his hand back, looking at it as Sakura continued stroking his hair in a motherly gesture. The blood didn't throw him off... it was something else when he hit the tree. Something told him he should have hit it with much more force than he did but... something stopped him.... Saved him.  
  
"Sasuke-kun, you shouldn't get up..." Sakura said quietly but she reluctantly let go of the other, watching him.  
  
The Uchiha teenager continued to get up, seeming a little unbalanced as he half stumbled a step to the side. Before his mind fully registered what he was doing, he had stealthily made his way over to Naruto and landed a hard punch on the other's face. As soon as his fist made full contact, Naruto went flying back from the force and skid across the ground until he came to a stop. Sasuke's eyes narrowed dangerously as they flashed into a crimson colour, showing that the Sharingan was active. He didn't really know what it did but Sasuke had felt a weird feeling in his eyes, signaling some sort of change. He continued to watch the other slowly sit up, looking at the blood that started to edge down from the side of his mouth.  
  
Kakashi looked from one of his students to the other, becoming more cautious from the tension. First, Sasuke was getting punched almost mercilessly and then he had sent Naruto back in only one strike.  
  
"Teme!" Naruto growled, wiping the blood off with the back of his hand.  
  
He jumped up and charged at the other, aiming a kick to the side of his head. Slowly, a malicious smirk started to appear on Sasuke's face as his opponent drew nearer. He leaned back so Naruto's foot just missed him by bare inches, watching the other's expression with a pleased and cruel look in his eyes. He brought a hand back as everything seemed to gradually freeze into slow motion. The next thing that any of them saw was Sasuke's hand clamped tightly around Naruto's throat, nearly holding him off of the ground.  
  
"Sasuke-kun, yamero!" Sakura shouted at him. "What are you doing?"  
  
"H-Hanase!" Naruto choked out.  
  
"That's enough." Kakashi warned, starting to walk over to them.  
  
A wind started to pick up as Naruto desperately tried to get the other to let go of his neck. Kakashi decided it was time to break them up and he hurried a bit faster. He got within a few feet of the two when Sasuke glared harshly at him. As if something suddenly held him back, Kakashi's muscles seemed to freeze and his joints locked.  
  
"Stay out of this..." Sasuke growled at his Jounin instructor.  
  
Cursing, Kakashi tried to move away from whatever was gluing him to the spot; something was holding him back. Sasuke turned his attention back to Naruto, focusing on the task at hand before he felt someone latch onto him from behind. It was familiar... Too familiar...  
  
"Sasuke-kun! Yamero, onegai!" Sakura said through sobs, clinging to him tighter.  
  
Sasuke's eyes widened, his grasp on Naruto's throat loosening until the other fell back on the ground. His arm remained where it was and he looked at his hand, remembering something similar to that very situation. Something was wrong... He sharply pulled away from Sakura and leaped into the trees, getting himself as far away as possible from that area and his teammates. Sakura slid down onto her knees, watching Sasuke run away sadly. Kakashi nearly fell forward from suddenly being released from whatever had caused his body to stop moving.  
  
'What did he do...' Kakashi thought, narrowing his exposed eye.  
  
"That bastard!" Naruto coughed, glaring after him. "Why did he do that?!"  
  
"Kakashi-Sensei...?" Sakura asked quietly, waiting for an answer.  
  
"He didn't use any sort of Jutsu..." Kakashi thought out loud. "He managed to use the Sharingan but nothing else..."  
  
Away from the slightly confused and concerned group, Sasuke continued leaping through the trees, trying to get away from everything. He didn't know where he was going, as long as it was away from the others. Yet that familiar feeling... that memory was still sticking in his mind, troubling him even more...  
-  
There was a group of ninjas... and they seemed to be in a forest of some sorts. There was some fighting as one shadowed person grabbed the arms of the other.  
  
"You like these arms, don't you..." The aggressor said, an odd aura of purple and black chakra around him.  
  
Then there was horrible cracking sounds as-  
-  
Sasuke shut his eyes tightly, trying to force the horrible feeling away. "Why is it haunting me... What is it..."  
  
He jumped onto another branch but it was weakened with age and it snapped under his weight. With panic coursing through his body, Sasuke desperately grabbed another smaller branch and hung onto it, watching the branch fall to the ground.  
  
"What's wrong with me..." He swallowed nervously.  
  
He heard some people walking below and his eyes followed them until one of the ninjas stopped. When the teenager on the ground turned around, Sasuke could see that he was looking right at him. He could slightly recognize the long black hair and the blank, almost completely pallid eyes. They were staring at him hauntingly. It was nearly too much for him to take. The familiar feelings of dread, the unexplainable fear... It was getting to him...  
  
Bones making sickly cracking sounds...  
  
Someone stopping him...  
  
Tear-stained face...  
  
Fear-filled eyes...  
  
Without warning, the branch that the teenager was holding onto broke from being gripped too hard and he fell through smaller branches. He just about hit the ground hard but some invisible power cushioned his fall only slightly, preventing him from breaking any bones from the impact. Sasuke felt winded and he shut his eyes again, feeling an odd but slight burning sensation where the marks on his face were.  
  
"What was that?" TenTen asked, looking over her shoulder.  
  
Neji narrowed his eyes slightly and began walking over to where Sasuke had fallen. As he got closer, he noticed something odd. The Uchiha heir wouldn't just let himself fall out of a tree, being obvious with his arrival. Lee and Gai stopped as well, wondering what was going on. Gai was already aware of Sasuke's condition from a short meeting that Tsunade held a few days back but he stayed back as Lee ran over to follow his teammate.  
  
"Did you see something, Neji?" Lee asked, moving some of the small branches of the bushes aside.  
  
"Sasuke!" Someone called out from a distance away. "You bastard! Where the hell did you go?"  
  
"Sasuke-kun!"  
  
Sasuke snapped his eyes open, looking up at the sky before looking around in almost alarm. He heard someone move in the bushes and he sat up quickly. It was a mistake as he felt light-headed from the sudden movement but he crawled back into a tree. People were looking for him... He did not know what he was going to do. His mind couldn't recall any Jutsus that he had learned throughout his life, people were possibly hunting him down and it seemed he was in the middle of nowhere.  
  
"Gai." Kakashi said as he jumped down from a tree.  
  
"He's around here." The Taijutsu Jounin kept his voice down. "Neji. Lee. Yamero."  
  
The two teenagers stopped, looking back at their Sensei except Neji. His eyes were glued to the spot in the bushes where Sasuke was hidden. Sasuke, on the other hand, made his escape back towards the village as fast as he could, not caring if he made noise as he crashed through the bushes.  
  
"It's getting worse..." Kakashi started to explain. "I thought a little training would do him some good but it was a mistake... Sasuke tried to kill Naruto and it wasn't unintentional either... He didn't fight back at first... but something changed dramatically..."  
  
"Nani?" Gai tensed and looked over at the silver-haired Jounin.  
  
Kakashi narrowed his gaze, admitting something. "I couldn't break them apart... Something stopped me..."  
  
Near the perimeter wall outside of the village, Itachi and Kisame stood silently as the sky started to get darker. Itachi's solemn gaze narrowed as he looked up towards the top of the barrier and found it seemingly unguarded. What sort of trouble had been caused since his last visit...  
  
[I wrote about four pages more than a few weeks ago and I didn't like it oO; so I wrote this! ... I think tis much better though... If there are any spelling mistakes, I apologize... Not a perfect speller even with a spell checker!]


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